The High Holy Days...Food... and My Mother....

Well, here they are again...The High Holy Days...for me that means at least a week in the kitchen.  My grandpa once told me that a good Jew is not neccessarily a very religious person...rather, a good Jew is a  person of good will who cares for and about others... who loves and honors her family...who is honest... who is generous and charitable...but most of all, a good Jew lovingly gathers her family together and keeps the traditions.  I am, according to my grandpa, a good Jew. There is nothing in this world that gives me greater joy than having my children and grandchildren with me.  At this time of year I also think of my mother, her birthday comes this month and it usually arrived around the same time as the holidays...we also lost her at the end of October.  Always in my heart, she is at this holiday  time,  even more on my mind...
 My mother's holiday food was always world class and from the time I was very young I can remember her perfect matzo balls swimming in a bowl of the clear, delicious chicken soup that perfumed the house as it cooked.  My mother was quite a package.  She was small in stature but had a big, beautiful singing voice that should have been on the professional stage.  It was always my little mommy who was asked to sing the Star Spangled Banner at events, who led the family in song, and who loved to perform in shows when we had a place in the country. There she was a true star.  Not only did she sing, but she helped to write the shows and always had the leading role.  I remember having to eat dinner early so she could run to the social hall (where they had a fabulous, complete, almost professional stage set-up) to rehearse.  Later, when I went to sleep-away  camp, I was always back in time to see Mommy perform in the Labor Day Show...

                                                      (Mommy, struttin her stuff...Dress rehearsal...circa 1950's)            My mother was a tough act to follow and when someone says to me, "You remind me of your mother..." they have paid me the highest compliment immaginable. She was an interior designer of magnificent taste and talent.  She could sew anything and was as handy with a screwdriver and pliers as she was with a sewing machine.  She actually made her own lampshades!!! And when my sister and I were little, we always had the best and most gorgeous Halloween costumes.  Mommy was much in demand with our teachers for school play costumes, too! But to me, the place that her gifts shone the brightest was in the kitchen.  Today, when I watch the chefs on TV and they use methods and "chef-ly" procedures, I often say..."Mommy did that!"  Of course, her parents had been caterers, and I am sure that she picked up much from my grandmother, who was sort of a Goddess of the Kitchen in her own right. However, my mother was innovative and original, bringing her own ideas to traditional foods and creating her own recipes as she went along. Something that I love to do, too.

                                                                                My mother in her kitchen  
My mother and Aunt Ethel shared cooking for the holidays.  Both outsanding cooks, they toiled for days preparing chickens, brisket, soup, matzo balls, tzimmis and apple cake.  Aunt Ethel usually made gefilte fish, too...never my favorite dish, I sadly hadn't bothered to learn from her how to make it!  It has taken me years to figure out amounts of ingredients in their recipes so that I could pass them on to my children and friends...not easy changing "a handful of this" into cups and a "shpritz" of that into ounces!  However, over the years I have perservered and I now can set forth a holiday dinner reminiscent of the ones I remember as a child... when we all gathered around the table, my parents, sister, and  aunts...where my great-aunt Vera brought home-made wine and her fabulous baked goodies...and my father always said, "These knaidles(matzo balls) are the best you ever made!"  I used to love eating the challah with raisins ( raisin challah is reserved for holidays) and dipping it into some delicious, amber honey.  Everything sweet, for a sweet New Year to come. So, as I prepare to cook this year's holiday meal for my family, I remember that dear, wonderful, talented, loving, precious woman who I was so very, very  blessed to call, "Mommy"...

Marcy's Chicken Soup          
1 fryer chicken well rinsed and cleaned
1 pkg. wings
any giblets you have saved (I save all giblets and backs and necks for soup!)
1 bunch curly parsley tear )stems
1 bunch dill
1 large parsnip cut in half
1 turnip, cut in half
2 leeks, cleaned and white part only
1 onion, whole
3 stalks of celery, preferably with leaves, cut in 1/3's
3 carrots cut in little rounds
salt
pepper
1-place all ingredients in a large stock pot and fill with water to about 3 inches from top.
2-add salt and pepper to taste...you will need to add salt at the end of cooking, again
3- bring to boil then reduce heat and cook on med/low flame for about 1 hour or more...you can remove white scum that forms on top for a clearer soup.
4- Let cool and store in large containers in refrigerator.  Fat will rise to top when chilled...save for matzo balls.  
This can keep in the refrigerator for a week or more.

Marcy's Matzo Balls
(For about 24-28 matzo balls)
8 large eggs...separated
8 tbsp. fat skimmed from top of chilled soup ( *if there is not enough fat, add some vegetable oil in same   amount)
8 tbsp. club soda
2 cups matzo meal
4 tsp. salt

1- Separate eggs
2- Beat egg whites until they form peaks
3-In another large bowl,mix yolks, club soda, fat and then add matzo meal and salt...mix with a fork, then fold in whipped egg whites     
4- Refrigerate for 1 hour                                                                          

 

5- In a large stock pot put up about 7 quarts of water to boil

6- After 1 hour remove batter from from fridge and form balls about the size of a handballs

7-...and drop into boiling water

                                                                        

8- They will sink and then pop up to the top...cook on medium for about 45 minutes to 1 hour...remove and drain... let cool.  They can be frozen and used as needed

Marcy's Most Spectacular Brisket (With a little tweaking by yours truly)  
                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

1 whole first cut brisket... trimmed but with some fat left on
1 med onion, rough chop
4-5 leaves of iceberg lettuce
4 carrots cut in 1/4's
1/3 cup tomato sauce or ketchup
1/2 cup good red wine
1 cup beef stock (some in reserve)
2 sprigs rosemary
3-4 sprigs thyme
6 leaves basil...just tear it in
salt...pepper...garlic powder...paprika

1-Season well both sides of the brisket with salt, pepper, garlic powder and paprika...then sear both sides under the broiler until brown
2- While meat is searing, spray a covered roasting pan with Pam and line bottom with lettuce leaves
3- Placed seared meat on lettuce and place chopped onions and tomato sauce or ketchup on top of meat and put the carrots around the sides.
4- Pour in the cup of beef broth  (put some broth in reserve in case it cooks out) 
5- Add wine and throw in herbs
6- Cover tightly with foil and then put pot cover on.  Cook ON TOP OF THE STOVE for 1 hour on medium-low to low. You may need 2 burners for a large roasting pan...make sure the flames match.
Cook for 1 hour, then turn meat over and re-cover and cook for another hour...add more stock and/or wine if liquid cooks out ...you will need the liquid for gravy. You may have to turn once more and cook an additional time until meat feels tender when a carving fork is inserted...
7-Remove from liquid, and let sit about 1/2 hour...then slice.  You can then wrap in foil and store if you wish.

                                                                         
8- ThGravy: **If you have a great deal of liquid in the pot and it is thin you can reduce it by cooking it down over medium heat ...it will thicken as it reduces
Then...
Place a strainer over a bowl and pour the liquid and cooked vegetables into the strainer
                      With a wooden spoon mash the vegetables through the strainer (use the spoon to scrape the strained veggies from the strainer).
                       When you have strained as much of the veggies as possible thru the strainer into the liquid, stir and cover and refrigerate.  When gravy is chilled, a layer of fat will rise to the top...just lift it off and discard it.
To serve, place meat in a baking dish and cover with gravy, heat in oven at 350 degrees until gravy starts to simmer....

                                                              L' shona tova...